Gemotions

Rain lashed against the window, mirroring the turmoil inside Leo. The Facebook notification. From Ethan. The boy who had systematically isolated him in high school. Leo remembered the whispers, the snickers, the feeling of utter exclusion. He clenched his jaw.

He leaned back in his chair, feeling the cool leather against his back. He ran a hand through his hair, the gesture somehow frantic. The memory of Ethan's sneering face, even after all this time, still had the power to make him want to disappear.

He closed his eyes for a moment, the image of Ethan's face burned into his eyelids. He considered blocking him, reporting him, anything to erase the reminder. He felt a deep ache within him, a kind of emptiness that seemed to spread out from his core.